Teacher, Teacher
by StarfallGalaxy
Summary: The first thing I can remember about Teacher is that coat.
1. Prolouge

**A/N: Was inspired by the story made by Demonic Irken called Decay even though this has nothing to do with that. Go check that out.**

The first thing I can remember about Teacher is that coat.

He's always wearing it, the black material running against the dust as we wander around the planets we visit. Little clouds follow Teacher almost anywhere, his own personal smoke machine as we wander and it gets stuck on his legs a little as he moves along the roads we like to travel, especially on Foodcourtia. I don't get his obsession with the place, but Vort dogs are good and, as Teacher says, 'part of my culture'. I'm glad my culture is delicious.

I don't know what planet my Teacher is from. No one in the entire universe we see looks anything like him. He has this little snout, an odd mouth that's flush against his face, and that weird shield he wears to cover up his eyes. Not to mention that horn or lekku or whatever it is that stays upright on his head. I remember chewing it when I was little, almost like another person was doing it instead of me, but Teacher says that memories can be like that sometimes. I remember it was soft and bendy, not unlike that other creature I remember…

Teacher's coat…

I remember that a whole lot more. I remember being really little, watching it sway back and forth as he walked in front of me. I used to hold it a lot too, Teacher telling me to do it whenever we had to cross the street. But I remember it even earlier…

I remember being really small, my one eye almost swollen shut as that weird beat that keeps him alive, the sound of a 'heartbeat', played in my ears. His coat was against me, wrapping me up like a little burrito, before there was a rush of movement and we were suddenly in a cold place. It was like the ship, but smaller, like it was a tinier version or something. Teacher's always been with me since then, watching me from the corner of his eye, smiling in that weird way he does when he's onto something.

Teacher is really tall, like super tall. I can see others shy away from him as soon as we walk in, watching him run his fingers against any and all buildings that we pass, like he's searching them for something. He's that wizard from those books he gave me to teach me 'English'. Lord of the Rings?

Teacher taught me how to read, he taught me to speak, he taught me to walk and even how to pick locks. He says the Resisty gave me to him, but I don't know what that means. He says someone called Lard Nar did it, something about Vort and Irkens. He smiles at me sadly sometimes whenever I ask about it, saying that I remind him of someone. That's just one more thing for me to wonder about…

Teacher says I'm something called 'arrogant', too. I don't know what that means, either. But it's gotta be unfair because he said it to me when he was really mad because that really stupid cat thing started to fight me. I got him pinned to the ground, though and then I told him that could do it because I was much better. Because I was! After all, Teacher had taught me how to fight and everything! But Teacher got mad and told me I was to sit in the corner and read for a cycle!

Unfair!

There was another time when Teacher told me about his past but it really didn't make any sense. He started talking and everything he said sounded just like how it should sound but then he kinda...stopped. Like he was lost. I only know that he wasn't very liked...wherever he's from. I don't think I was, too. Why else would the Resisty give me up? Or maybe they did it so Teacher wouldn't be lonely?

But Teacher wasn't alone when I got there.

I asked about Irkens once, but Teacher got so quiet I apologized. I read up on Irkens on my own after that. They don't sound very nice. If you do one little thing wrong, they like to take you away never to be seen again. I asked Z about it, but he sounded even more distressed than usual when I did. Then really dark pink stuff started leaking in the goo he's usually in.

I wear an old shirt that Teacher had, but it looks way too small for him. It's blue and it has this neat grey face on it that looks kinda sad. He said that it stands for an 'unfiltered truth', whatever that means. I just think that it looks cool.

I wonder what my planet looks like, or if I'll ever see it. I like to imagine a place with a bunch of hooved and horned creatures would look like. Teacher makes me recite words so that I can learn their language. I don't like that, it's boring. I'd rather watch the tube in the back of the ship, writing little messages on it's glass to whoever is inside there. I remember the first time I put my hand against the glass because they scared me.

Teacher went to go get us more food, but he didn't know I was awake yet. It was when I was really little, cause I can remember that the tube was much taller-looking that night. The ship was cold, my hooves sliding as I tried to look out the glass of the hull. I heard a noise, then, kinda like groaning. I got so scared I ran into the back, where Teacher tells me never to go. I bumped into the tube…

I remember looking up at it, a dark form floating there and almost the size of me. It looked lonely, all droopy in pink goo as wires-wires-ran into it's skin. I can't really see him that well but I know he's hurt. When I put my claw up to the glass that night, my hand smudging it, I heard another soft groan. I think I was shaking almost as bad as he was, his own little blunt claw slowly drifting up to mine before just pressing against it. I could see some of the bone on his hand…it took a lot not to scream.

I gasped, fogging up his home before I decided to write there 'HI'. He didn't say anything, but his hand did move to pet the letters! So every night I sneak in a write new ones, like 'You'll be okay' or 'Hang on' or even 'Don't give up'. His voice is sounding stronger, even if it's just crying at night. Then I read to him, so he stops crying. I think he falls asleep.

I call him 'Z' because his weird little tube has this plaque with 'Z-23421872' on it. Teacher likes to call me 'Xion' but I like 'Xii' better. So that me and Z will rhyme. I think it makes the two of us feel more together, even if he's behind glass.

I don't know a lot about Teacher but the thing I want to know the most about is Z. Who is he? Where did he come from? What is his real name? Does he have one? And most of all I want to ask Teacher why…

Why is Z in that tube? Why can I see his bones? And why is there an Irken symbol on his left shoulder that's been scratched by three, blunt claws?


	2. The Nightmare Begins

It's been three weeks since we landed here on this new planet. It's really green where we are now. Teacher calls it a forest. I think that he's really anxious about this one, this 'mission'. It's almost like he wanted to tell me something but couldn't. Then he left. Just...left. He said he'd be back but it's been three days.

I'm scared.

It's not like I'm alone here or anything but its still scary. Z even seems more testy here than anywhere else. He's even been talking...or some form of it, I think. He makes sounds, some of them even sounding like he's saying my name.

I wonder when Teacher's coming back. I'm scared.

I have only three rules to follow while Teacher is gone. One, don't let anyone in. Two, don't leave the ship. And three, don't go into the back room.

… I've already broken one rule. Does that make me a bad person?

Xii watched out the window of the "captain's chair" that he usually occupied when Teacher was out for the day. His small frame trembled, the cold air that usually was absent in the ship finally breaking through the cracks that assembled the shoddy patches from other… adventures. A pair of Teacher's old boots leaned against one wall almost like a pair of sad hobos. Xii smiled sadly at them, resting his head on his arms. Even the long-problematic control panel was silent in this weird land. his horns flattened against his head, emerald eyes burning into the 'tree' right outside the window. He could've sworn it was moving.

The Vortian lifted his legs onto the counsel as he leaned back, mindful of the large red button that liked to open the ship visor. Even though he was sure that it wasn't supposed to. His horns jingled while he moved, 3 individual bell hanging down from the tips of each horn. He played with the edges of his blue shirt, pulling at the grey face printed onto it's soft surface.

"You know, Z, I kinda wish that Teacher had told me where he was going, at least," Xii got up from his seat, his horns bouncy once more. "Then maybe I coulda radioed him…"

The young Vort glanced to the old wooden radio that his Teacher had set up, the dust that collected on it dancing in the sunlight. In it's silver knobs, he could see himself distorted into something even more monstrous than usual. He'd seen other Vortians, of course, but he saw the way they looked at him. In his reflection, there were two odd 'quirks'-as Teacher had put it- that became even more apparent every time he looked into any mirror.

His grey fur was dusky, much fluffier around the collar than anywhere else. It bunched up under the blue shirt he was wearing, spilling over the collar. On top of the light color that most Vorts would consider 'handsome', there were dark marks surrounding his fur.

'A side effect', Teacher said. 'From an...accident.'

He didn't ask what the accident was. He already knew what it was. The answer was written in the eyes that he had, the acidic pools that glowed in the dark or could see very far away. That was the biggest reason Vortians looked at him funny, he knew. His eyes were different. His eyes weren't Vortian, but the eyes of a horrid creature that had plagued his race since the moment a contract for an armistice was made.

His eyes were that of an Irken.

"Hey, Z?"

There was a shuffle from behind the curtain, one that told Xii that the other was rocking against his tube again. He took it as an invitation to proceed.

"When do you think that Teacher is coming back? I mean, it's been like...forever since we've last seen him. You think he's dead?"

A rattle from the tube indicated a 'negative'. Xii smiled in the direction of his friend, Z's sounds of movement having soothed him since he was two and the other creature had gotten decidedly more...active. Back then, he'd use the back area as a hideout when Teacher wasn't around, dropping down behind the little tube to play with the wires and robot parts that still twitched if he poked them. He'd lean against the cool glass on those days, feeling eyes on his back as Z watched over him.

Another rattle brought him back to the present, light fading from the ship this odd planet's sun set, marking yet another day of Teacher's absence from the ship. The Vortian's face soured from that thought, another rattle getting his attention. He bounded over to the tube, smiling at the slightly miffed shape he could make out, only a vague pair of eyes and some limb shape but he knew this shape as Z, so Z it stayed.

"Let me guess, you want me to go to bed?" Xii hummed, smirking with his hands behind his back. "I will... after you tell me what you do all night!"

Z's eyes widened, a dark swoosh of the goo suggesting he shook his head. Another hard glare was directed at the Vort, a claw tapping him through the glass before pointing off to his room. It always interested him that Z always knew where everything was, despite having never ventured forth from the tube.

"Awwww! But Z!" The crestfallen Xii whined, making a great show of it, too. "I wanna talk to you some more! And lookee!"

Xion tapped the elder's glass, a crack showing in the impenetrable wall keeping them apart.

"You have a leak! Dontcha wanna let me fix it with my duct tape?"

Z's eyes widened even more than before, his head shaking twice as fast. He was more insistent this time, Xion rolling his eyes at the trapped member of the ship.

"Fine. What's gotten up your butt today? Sheesh…"

He wandered off, the door to his room sliding shut with a small, audible 'click'.

He didn't get to see the sick smirk on Z's face as the trapped member of the crew started to kick the crack until it got wider, wider, wider...

**A/N: Should I have put more horror into this? Yes, yes I should've. But you know what? OH WELL!**


	3. New Friends, Old Memories

**A/N: When you haven't posted in a while because life...**

He doesn't know where the dark figure came from.

All he knows is that it's familiar somehow, the rounded eyes with tired rings. Golden, honey brown that darkened with moods, an impossible temper, some sort of odd crooked smile… all very similar. He supposed, though, that it was possible to have more than one mixed nutbag in this godforsaken planet. Especially one that talked about yet another like the others… the good ones that might not kill you for looking at them funny.

No, not true.

HE never killed anyone, choosing instead to go through trouble enough to attempt to fix him. In fact, he was similar to several figures in the bot's clouded mind, almost behind a smokescreen but he did remember them. After all, he did love the three of them very deeply. It wasn't like that was very clear with anyone, apparently, in this world, but he felt like it was enough.

Enough so that he believed that one would come back to him.

In the meantime, he watched from his perch on the Van-his small, metallic form pressed against his current friend's thin, reedy body-the sicklier boy coughing slightly into one hand, the machete in his fist gleaming under the moonlight.

Zim's body ached as he rose from his glass coffin, the sharp edges of the glass scratching against his newly formed and sensitive skin. He shuddered slightly, wincing at the puncture wounds it made. It felt almost like when dull human claws would-

No, not going down that road.

"Z?"

The slim figure tensed, his new body's muscles acting just as the old ones would have. Suddenly, he was plastered to the ceiling with his PAK legs, holding his breath as he watched the furry child-smelly that had just invited himself into their lives wander into the room. A shiver of pleasure wracked Zim as he saw the familiar scared rabbit look he enjoyed on so many faces settle on Xion's. The stupid Vortian scrambled to the broken glass, holding a piece of the shards in his claw, the Irken holding back a gag as pink slime dripped from it, covering grey claws. Icky, icky gross…

"Z!" Xion squeaked, looking all around the ship's foyer except up. "Z?! What happened? Where are you?!"

For Irk's sake, how hadn't this Vort gotten himself killed yet? Did the Dib-thing not teach it to fend for itself or even know how to be quiet for once in it's pathetic life? Honestly, how was this meant to be his replacement?

Zim smirked, his magma eyes narrowing to slits as he lowered slowly to the ground behind the little 'goat'. Yes, that's what Vortians looked like, those inferior mammals humans kept in their 'petting zoos' until they outlived their purpose of being fluffy meat sacks. And just like those useless goats, this one had outlived its purpose, now that Zim was back. He raised a single, deadly PAK leg over his head, aiming straight for the thing's neck. A mercy kill, if you will. His bare feet touched the floor-reminding the Irken immediately of two things…

One, he was naked.

And two, no boots meant no traction on the slippery, icky, gooey floor he suddenly found himself on.

"AGGGGGHHHUHHH!"

Xion jumped about a half a mile, not even thinking when he turned to lash one of his hooves out to assault his attacker. Bone connected with newly formed flesh, the former crushing the latter's windpipe as soon as he hit the floor. An unbecoming hiss escaped the Irken's throat, his face flushing teal as he met his replacement's eyes.

"Who th-" Xii hissed, eyes wandering to the magenta eyes that suddenly seemed very familiar, emerald skin that had three distinct claw marks over a black symbol and down further- "EW! Gross, dude! Why the heck are you naked?!"

Xii scrambled backward, sticking out his tongue in a very familiar fashion to Zim as he wiped his hoof on the carpet as if the goo was fine compared to skin. Zim raised one antenna, one eye squinting in confusion. This Vortian really had no self-preservation, did he?

"I am naked, stupid Vort, because I have been REBO-"

"Oh, sweet! So you can talk! Huh. I was expecting you to sound much meaner than you do," The Vortian blinked, the green eyes never leaving the magenta ones, his own eye squinting. "'Course I was expecting you to be smaller, too…"

"Eh?"

He… he couldn't be serious, could he? This Vortian was faced with certain doom and yet it didn't seem to bother him at all! Zim set his jaw as memories of a certain raven-haired boy was flooded into his memory banks. He couldn't let this failed experiment shake him! Zim had a mission to do: find his Dib. Other stuffs could wait for later when he had time to do… other stuffs.

And no one-especially this little replacement was going to ruin that.

"Well, I mean… Irkens can grow to at least five foot two and I'm only a little guy, like… four foot somethin'? And I can imagine that Z's only like… two inches taller than me? Yet, you're about-what-five three?" Xii bent down in a fighting position, putting up his fists. "Either way, I can take you. Teacher is six foot, you know…"

Zim raised his antennae a little higher, before it dropped down into its own fighting position, "Ugh. How does Dib-human put up with you?"

"How about you come and find out? Unless you want to give me back Z… " A cocky smirk, one that Zim couldn't quite place but seemed vaguely familiar. "Streaker?"

"There is nothing to give back," Zim growled. "Brat."

Two very different sounding hisses came from both sides as they came at each other, claws and teeth bared-

His new friend stood over him soundly, panting hard as warm fluid dripped from the machete. A large part of his side was coated in the same stuff, too, making the formerly black shirt stick to the noodle boy.

"So…GIR…," His friend spoke with a soft voice, no matter how riddled with thorns it appeared to be. "How 'bout a Cherry Brainfreezie?"

**A/N: A cookie to whoever guesses who GIR's new friend is!**


End file.
